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| Sailing in the Adriatic, July 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brian, Ron, & John (photo Judy Seers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fed up with Vancouver's rainy June, I set off for three weeks of sailing in the Adriatic on the good ship Okina, skippered by Brian Moorhouse. The sailing was great, the wine was rubbish, and the company tremendous. When on land, we used the Lonely Planet books on Italy and Croatia, and found them accurate and informative. At sea, we just kind of winged it. (All photos below by yours truly, John.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I flew to Venice and spent a day wandering round befor catching a train that went all the way down Italy to Reggio di Calabria. Reggio didn't have a lot to offer, so you'll have to settle for a couple of photos I took of Venice. (I didn't think the canals smelled bad, but maybe that's just me.) |
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| Otranto is a great town on the Italian Adriatic coast. The Aragonese castle in the old town is now a warren of restauants, shops, and bars - the perfectly designed tourist trap. The photo below is from just outside the castle looking towards its coastal wall. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lecce is a few miles inland from Otranto. The quarries in that area provide stone that is soft to carve, but hardens once finished. The photo below shows an example of the Lecce baroque architecture which this stone facilitated. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This boat is an outstanding example of marine architecture. (It is not Okina!) We never got to ask who the owner was. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We were lucky enough to spend one evening in an Italian town that was celebrating its saint's day. The streets were packed and a statue of the saint was marched out of the church and through the streets after Mass. It was a great opportunity for me to introduce my Protestant and pagan friends to the one true Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. It was also a great event at which to buy counterfeit watches from street-vendors. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Croatia at last! We arrived in style is at the island of Korcula. This is the dock where the customs house is. It sure is a lot more pleasant than sitting on the highway waiting to cross the Canada/US border. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Same place, wider angle photo below. The squat, round tower indicates old fortifications. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This three storied bell tower is unique and the major landmark in the town of Hvar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| My only photo of Split shows the remains of Diocletian's palace, below. He was Roman Emperor, retired in Split and built this palace. It has been continuously inhabited since it was built. Split is one of three major cities on the Croatian Adriatic (Dalmatian) coast, along with Dubrovnik and Zadar. We were there three days, but were too busy eating, drinking, and fixing the boat to take pictures. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Below is the church in Drvenik, a small town on an island. If you go there, be prepared to hike uphill to get to it. It's worth it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Final stop: Zadar. Here's a photo of a cat in the doorway of a conservatory. I was initially attracted to the building because I heard a choir practising. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Zadar is choked with churches. There's even an Orthodox one, which has amazingly survived the ethnic warfare of the 1990's. The centrepiece of the city's ecclesiastical tradition is St. Donat's, pictured below. Construction was started int he 9th century and many of the stones were salvaged from Roman ruins. One can see pagan Latin incantations written on them! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Well, that's it for this summer. Farewell 'til next we meet on the good ship Okina. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Wanna see a couple of other travel sites? In 1998, My friend Judy and I went to Cuba. If you like it a little colder, check out Judy's website about our trip to Alaska, Northern British Columbia and the Yukon, where we hiked the Chilcoot Pass. |
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| Visitors since October 15, 2000: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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